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Up until very recently there was a great shortage of qualified nurses in the UK (in both the NHS and the independent sector). There were two contributing factors; the age of the current nursing work force; and the fact that the UK was losing qualified nurses to other countries, notably the USA. Although Australia is now seeking to recruit from the UK because it also has an aging population issue.

Overseas Nursing Programme (ONP)
Provided you are accepted and meet the minimum standards to be accepted on the NMC register, as a nurse you will be required to undertake the Overseas Nursing Programme, if you have trained outside of the EEA. Provided you are accepted and meet the minimum standards to be accepted on the NMC register, as a nurse you will be required to undertake the Overseas Nursing Programme, if you have trained outside of the EEA.

Some employers are able to provide the Overseas Nursing Programme and will arrange to register you to start on the programme upon production of your NMC decision letter, as soon as you arrive in the UK.

Whilst you complete the Overseas Nursing Programme and obtain your NMC registration, certain employers are able to offer you work as an ATA (Auxiliary Trained Abroad) or a HCA (Healthcare Assistant), provided your registration documents are all in order. The Overseas Nursing Programme is not widely available in the UK and therefore the NMC advise against travelling to the UK unless you are registered on an ONP Programme. See a list of ONP course providers below.

The programme assesses your ability to practice in the UK healthcare environment. It consists if 20 days protected learning time, plus, where appropriate a period of supervised practice. Your decision letter will confirm what parts of the programme you must undertake. If you have had educational and practical experience in your home country that closely matches UK requirements for entry to the Register, you will only have to take the 20 protected learning days.

Stages of RegistrationRegistration Stage 1
When you apply you will need to pay the NMC an administration fee. You should then return the initial application form with your choice of registration tickets. You should also send the NMC certified (signed by a solicitor) photocopies of your:

You should also send your International English Language Testing System (IELTS) candidate number and test score.

Registration Stage 2
When the NMC receive the documents listed above and the required fee, they will send you an application pack, which contains.

•Application form
•Post-registration experience form
•Two employment references
•Transcript of training form
•Registration authority / licensing body form
This will be supported by detailed information on how to complete the forms and provide the information the NMC require. Further details can be found from the NMC booklet called “Registering as a nurse or midwife in the United Kingdom (for applicants from outside the European Economic Area)

NMC Registration
The NMC is responsible for registering all nurses working in the UK. It is not possible to work as a registered nurse with the NMC registration.

In order to get registered there are 3 stages. You will first need:

1. Information Pack:
You can get one of these by either writing to the NMC and they can post one to you or downloading one from the NMC website. If you do not have broadband internet connection it can take a long time to download.

The application pack you will be sent will detail what you will need to send to the NMC in order for them to assess you as to your suitability to become NMC registered.

Certain documents will definitely be needed so it is best to realize this in advance:

Registration certificate
Birth Certificate
Copies of Diplomas
References from previous employers
Transcript of your training from your training provider. This should include details of the amount of practical training you have had.

2. Payment:

In order to proceed you will need complete the application form and send all relevant documents along with a fee of £140 to the NMC.

3. Assessment:
Each application is then assessed by the NMC. This can be a long process and you should allow a minimum of 3 months for a decision to come through. In practice it will probably take longer.

The NMC will verify all the information you send them and determine the adequacy of the education and training that you have had compared to an equivalent course in the UK.

4. Possible Decisions
Accepted onto the NMC register
Rejection to the NMC register - where education/training levels do not meet the required standard
Need to complete a period of Supervised Practice.
It is quite often the decision of the NMC for the nurse to undertake a period of supervised practice. It will state in the letter how long this period is to last for. It is often between 3 and 6 months.
Obtaining Supervised Practice

Only some agencies will accept nurses who are looking for Supervised Practice, however this is fairly rare. In order to gain a placement for supervised practice you should try to contact hospitals directly. You can also try nursing homes.

Top Tips

NEVER pay an agency a fee. Agencies receive their money from the hospital/employer. Some unscrupulous agencies might ask nurses to pay a fee in order to help them secure a job. Do not deal with these agencies as there are plenty of agencies who will not charge you. DO NOT surrender your passport and any other documents to an Agency. Agencies do this to try to make sure that you stay with a certain employer so that the agency will not have to repay the fee. However you should agree a minimum period that you will stay with a certain employer. Prepare early for NMC registration: NMC registration is a notoriously long process and ideally you should apply 6 months before wanting to move to UK.

When you apply you must have been practising as a registered nurse or midwife for at least 12 months (full-time or the part-time equivalent) after qualifying. Also, if you have been qualified for longer than this, you must have practised for at least 450 hours in the previous three years. You must also meet our English language requirements, with an international English language test (IELTS) score of 7.0. You should be aware that you will, separately, be required to meet the full requirements of the UK’s immigration processes.

On completion of the initial application process, a full application pack will be sent to you for completion. When you receive the full application pack, the forms must be completed and returned by post to the contact address indicated.

During an interview of with Ms. Joan Lavilla of POLO-UK, she gave an overview of the requirements and application processes.

General Requirements and How to Apply

Requirements and Qualifications

Nurse applicants need to be registered with the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) before they can work in the UK.

Registered with UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Complete the registration process and pass the two tests: (1) a computer-based test; and (2) a practical test.

Graduate of a nursing degree and registered in the country of origin.

At least 1 year work experience.

IELTS score of 7 or higher in each of the aspects of reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
(Read: IELTS for Nurses: An Ultimate Guide)

Good health and no criminal record.

Obtaining Work Visa

To obtain a work permit, a migrant nurse must have a job offer from a licensed UK entity. To check whether a UK sponsor is allowed to hire workers from overseas, please visit this. An applicant for Tier 2 (General Worker), when evaluated must score 70 points based on the following attributes: the job offer from a licensed sponsor/certificate of sponsorship, English language skills, and maintenance funds.

Application Process

For the 554 vacancies reported, the UK employers have coursed their requirements thru their partners.

Department of Health says move aims to ease pressure on NHS after introduction of cap on trusts hiring expensive agency staff
Restrictions on appointing nurses from overseas have been temporarily lifted to aid recruitment.

Nurses will be added to the government’s Shortage Occupation List, which means nurses from outside the European Economic Area will have their applications prioritised.

The Department of Health said the move was designed to ease the pressure on the NHS after the government introduced a cap on NHS trusts hiring expensive agency staff.

Nurses should not be subject to new immigration rules, says NHS England chief
Read more
The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said: “Safe staffing across all our hospitals and care homes is a crucial priority.

“The temporary changes announced today will ensure the NHS has the nurses it needs to deliver the highest standards of care without having to rely on rip-off staffing agencies that cost the taxpayer billions of pounds a year.

“We are also recruiting more homegrown nurses than ever to deliver a truly seven-day NHS. There are already more than 8,000 additional nurses on our wards since 2010 and we are investing in our future workforce with a record 50,000 nurses currently in training.”

The temporary change will be subject to review by the independent Migration Advisory Committee, which will present further evidence to the government by next February.

According to the government, Health Education England has increased nurse training places by 14% over the past two years and is forecasting that more than 23,000 extra nurses will be in place by 2019.

Register and pass ielts academic module with at least 7.0 in all the bands, you must have completed at least 3 years of Nursing school and hold a current unrestricted licence to practice as a nurse, you are also Required to have at least 1 year work experience.

Steps
STEP 1
After determining that you have the requirements stated above, log on to the NMC website to open an account then complete the self assessment of eligibility before applying. This costs £140.
NOTE: UK NMC has 4 registration fields which are; Adult nursing, mental health nursing, learning disability nursing and children nursing. As a single qualified nurses in Nigeria,your application should come under Adult Nursing. http://www.nmc.org.uk
STEP 2

TEST OF COMPETENCE -PART ONE

Once you have passed the eligibility assessment stage (the above step) then you will need to sit for a computer based exam. The exam is a multiple choice one that you can take right here in Nigeria.

You have two attempts to pass the test and if you fail twice you will have to wait until six months later before you can retake the test. If you pass,then your result will be sent to the NMC UK and you will be invited to progress to the next stage. The test cost £130.
STEP 3: ASSESSMENT

After passing the computer based test,your application will then be assessed. For the assessment, you will have to produce the following:

- A valid passport.
-Birth certificate
-Your qualification certificate
-Registration certificate from Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.
-2 employment references confirming that you have the 12months experience in competent and character
-Verification of registration from Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria
-Transcript from your nursing school showing the hours spent in clinicals and block studies.
-A good health declaration certificate from a Medical doctor
-Police certificate
Note: All these forms are available for download on the NMC UK website

STEP 4 TEST OF COMPETENCE - PART TWO

After successful assessment, you will be invited for the second competency test. This is a test of clinical competence; the format is Objective Structured Clinical Examination commonly referred to as OSCE. You will be invited to travel to uk for it cause University of Northamton is the only University allowed to conduct the exam. You will be asked to carry out practical demonstrations and answer questions as you go round the stations. The exam cost £992

STEP 5.
This stage has to do with face to face identification. Your picture will be take and all your original Documents assessed. This can be done at the osce venue or their london office.

Upon successful completed, you will be invited to complete the final declaration and payment for your registration pin; this can be done online.

UK Nursing and Midwifery Council Board has accepted a proposal to change the proof of English language proficiency for foreign trained nurses who are seeking registration as nurses in UK.

The change which is expected to be published next month will most likely be implemented from November 2017.Below are the acceptable ways of demonstrating competence in English language according to the newly accepted proposal.

Applicants can demonstrate the necessary knowleyof English in one of the following ways:

Evidence type 1: Academic IELTS level 7 or an alternative test that matches our criteria including that it maps to ielts level 7

Evidence type 2: A recent pre registration nursing or midwifery program that has been taught and examined in English

Evidence type 3: Registration and two years of registered practice with a nursing or midwifery regulator in a country where English is the first and native Language.

This is a really good news,start preparing your documents if you meet the second or third criteria. Safe and tell other nurses